176-10036-10103

AGENCY :
: 176-10036-10103

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TITLE :

: 3/20/1963

DATE

PAGES :
SUBJECTS :
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CURRENT STATUS : .
: 9/10/2000
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DATE OF LAST REVIEW

| 2025 RELEASE UNDER THE PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY ASSASSINATION RECORDS ACT OF 1992

JFK ASSASSINATION SYSTEM
IDENTIFICATION FORM

NARA

National Security Files

CIA Information Telegram -

3

National Security Files, Box 197: Vietnam, 2/63-3/63. Box 2

,

VERSLON
. mK -Gi- sas to

INFORMATION REPORTE

CENTRAL. INTELLIGENCE AGENCY J ore

This material contains information affecting the Nations! Defente of the. United States within the meaning of the Espionage Lows, Title 16. U.S.C Sect
793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in any manner to an unaulhoried person is prohibited by lew.

CLASSIFICATION — DISSEMINATION CONTROLS

C-O-N-F-I-D-E-N-T-I-A-L NO FOREIGN DISSEM
COUNTRY SOUTH VIETNAM REPORT NO. TOCS -3/541,020

SUBJECT THE SEEKING OF AMERICAN SUPPORT FOR _DATE DISTR. ‘20 MARCH 1963
: THE OVERTHROW OF THE DIEM REGIME
PRECEDENCE ROUTINE ¢

DATE OF MID-MARCH 1963 ; REFERENCES © In 89614
INFO.

PLACE & VIETNAM, SAIGON (14 MARCH 1963)

DATE ACQ.

APPRAISAL SEE BELOW FIELD REPORT NO, FVS~8662

THIS Is UNEVALUATED INFORMATION. SOURCE GRADINGS ARE DEFINITIVE. APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE.

source A HIGH-LEVEL GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL (C),.WITH.EXTENSIVE CONTACTS AT THE PRESIDENCY.

APPR THIS REPORT IS. TYPICAL OF VIEWS HELD BY CERTAIN OPPOSITIONISTS, INCLUDING THOSE
IN THE FELLOW-TRAVELLING CATEGORY. COMMENTS OF THIS NATURE HAVE ALSO BEEN MADE
BY GOVERNMENT PROVOKERS SEEKING TO PROVOKE AMERICAN REACTION. THE LINE THAT
DIEM IS ACCEPTABLE, BUT THAT HIS FAMILY, ADMINISTRATION, AND PROGRAMS ARE NOT,
.IS ALSO CHARACTERISTIC OF VARIOUS OPPOSITION ELEMENTS AS WELL AS SOME SEGMENTS
OF THE LEFT. ‘THE ESTIMATE CONTAINED HEREIN ON A NUMBER OF SUBJECTS, INCLUDING
THE APPRAISAL THAT THE STRATEGIC HAMLET PROGRAM IS HIGHLY DANGEROUS TO THE
GOVERNMENT OF VIETNAM OR TO AMERICAN OBJECTIVES, IS NOT ACCEPTED.

1. AMERICAN AID IS ESSENTIAL TO AN OVERTHROW OF THE DIEM REGIME,
ACCORDING TO. THE STATEMENTS MADE BY TWO REPRESENTATIVES OF A COMMITTEE OF
| NATIONALIST ANTI-COMMUNIST POLITICAL OPPOSITIONISTS IN MID-MARCH 1963, IN
THE PRESENCE OF AN OFFICIAL OF THE PRESIDENTIAL SECURITY SERVICE (SEPES),
- WHO MAY ALSO BE A MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE. THE COMMITTEE IS ENGAGED IN A’
STUDY OF THE PRESENT SITUATION IN SOUTH ‘VIETNAM AND MAKING PLANS FOR ITS

IMPROVEMENT... ALTHOUGH SEPES' CHIEF TRAN KIM TUYEN IS NOT A MEMBER OF THE
COMMITTEE, BECAUSE OF HIS POSITION, HE HAS PROVIDED CERTAIN SUPPORT FROM TIME TO TIME.

"CLASSIFICATION — DISSEMINATION CONTROLS
-C-O-N-F-I-D-E-N-T-I-A-L NO FOREIGN DISSEM

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PLGISIV YM NFORMATION REPORT Mgaiaeny

SEMUTVEOD WU 0-197 57-3

FORM 1Kb OBSOLETE PREVIOUS EDITIONS.

Group |
* [Excluded from avtomone
downgrading ond

deciowficaton

(15-20)

CLASSIFICATION — DISSEMINATION CONTROLS ”

NO. FOREIGN DISSEM TDCS -3/541,020

THE TWO REPRESENTATIVES INDICATED THAT, IF AMERICAN AID 1S NOT
FORTHCOMING, OTHER SOURCES WILL BE CONTACTED. IF THE AMER I CANS
HELP THE NATIONAL IST CAUSE OF THE OPPOSITIONISTS, THEY WILL

HAVE SOME MEASURE OF CONTROL OVER THE RESULTS; OTHERWISE, .
THEY WILL HAVE NONE. (FIELD COMMENT. FVS 8654, TDCS-3/540,447, REPORTER
AN EARLIER DISCUSSION BY THESE INDIVIDUALS. )
2. ACCORDING TO THESE OPPOSITIONI'STS, THE COUNTRY HAS
REACHED A COMPLETE IMPASSE AND SOMETHING MUST HAPPEN SOON, IF
DIEM SHOULD DIE SUDDENLY, THE RESULT WOULD BE CHAOS, OUT OF
WHICH THE COMMUNISTS WOULD EMERGE AS THE ONLY BENEFICIARIES.
DIEM REMAINS IN POWER ONLY AS THE RESULT OF AMERICAN MILITARY
SUPPORT, WITHOUT WHICH HE WOULD BE COMPLETELY LOST. THE DIEM .
GOVERNMENT 1S WORSE THAN IMPOSSIBLE,.’ “THERE ARE
A NUMBER OF. GROUPS IN THE. COUNTRY, SUCH AS THE HOA HAO “AND THE
CAO DAI, THAT ARE COMPLETELY OPPOSED TO COMMUNISM BUT CANNOT
POSSIBLY SUPPORT THE PRESENT REGIME, WHEREAS THEY COULD SUPPORT
_ SOME OTHER NATIONAL | ST TYPE OF GOVERNMENT. PRESIDENT DIEM
| |S PERSONALLY A DECENT AND HONORABLE MAN, BUT NGO DINH NHU AND

HIS WIFE MUST BE ELIMINATED; WITHOUT THEM, iT WOULD BE POSSIBLE

10 RE-ORIENT DIEM..
3. THE STRATEGIC HAMLET PROGRAM 1S HIGHLY ‘DANGEROUS BECAUSE,

ALTHOUGH THE ‘AMERICANS AND THE GOVERNMENT OF VIETNAM ARE EITHER

CLASSIFICATION — DISSEMINATION CONTROLS a

NO FOREIGN DISSEM


+ CLASSIFICATION — DISSEMINATION CONTROLS

CONFIDENTIAL NO FORBIGN DISSEM | TDCS -3/si,020

UNAWARE :OF QR UNWILLING TO FACE IT, THE STRATEGIC HAMLETS ‘ARE
HEAVILY INFILTRATED WITH VIETNAMESE COMMUNISTS (VC), WHOSE
PRESENCE WILL MAKE ITSELF KNOWN IN DUE” COURSE. THE REPUBLICAN
YOUTH MOVEMENT 1S ONLY A LONG SERIES OF MEETINGS AND 1S
COMPLETELY LACKING IN“DEPTH AS AN ORGANIZATION; IT 1S A _
SUPERF IC IAL’ VENEER, GOING” THROUGH VARIOUS FRUITLESS MOTIONS.
THE PRINCIPAL CRITERION FOR.SELECTION OF PROVINCLAL AND
DISTRICT LEADERS’ I'S “PERSONAL ‘OBEDIENCE TO THE REGIME; COMPETENCE
1S ONLY AN AFTERTHOUGHT. .

4. IE THE SITUATION.<GONTINUES IN ITS PRESENT VEIN, THERE
WILL BE A RENEWED VC OFFENSIVE ON A LARGER SCALE SOON AFTER
THE ONSET OF* THE: RAINY SEASON, WHEN BAD WEATHER REDUCES THE
EFFECTIVENESS ‘OF HELICOPTERS AND AIR CAPABILITY IN GENERAL.
THIS WILL BEGIN NEAR THE SAIGON AREA, AND,-AT THE SAME TIME
THE VC WITHIN THE “STRATEG!C’ HAMLETS WILL GO INTO ACTION,

5. FIELD DISSEM, STATE ARMY NAVY AIR USMACV MAAG AID
‘USIA CINCPAC PACFLT ARPAC PACAF 9TH FIELD STATION 2ND AIR DIVISION.

END..OF MESSAGE

CLASSIFICATION — DISSEMINATION CONTROLS : .

_NO FOREIGN DISSEM


